He said it was unfair to expect taxpayers to foot the bill for increasing civil service pensions.

Workers should âpause and reflectâ before joining an action called by âhardliners â militants itching for a fightâ, he added.

âThey want scenes of industrial strife on our TV screens, they want to make economic recovery harder, they want to provide a platform for confrontation just when we all need to pull together,â Mr Gove claimed.

Unions brushed off his comments. Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: âIt is the government which is behaving provocatively. Now, at the eleventh hour, they are trying to bully and browbeat public sector workers into not taking strike action. It wonât work.â

Wednesdayâs action will see at least 90 per cent of schools closedBritainâs borders will be manned by the army as border agency staff walk out, air passengers face major delays, hospital patients could have their operations put back and courts face closures.